"This boy's too young to be singin' the blues."
- Abi Withers
- Jun 16, 2019
- 3 min read
So this movie "Rocket Man" really touched me yesterday and I have to explain why.
For those of you who haven't seen it, it's about the extravagant and difficult life of Elton John. Now yes he was extremely successful and it was probably pretty okay being one of the most popular and wealthy musical artists on planet Earth, but there was so much more to his life than his musical career.
As we all know it is June; Pride month. Good and bad things are happening all over the world because of it. Take for example this poor lesbian couple that were beaten by a group of teenagers just because of their sexuality. Nice link here, thank you CNN. Granted these boys are being arrested and few people think it is okay, it's obvious that today it is still pretty controversial to be in a homosexual relationship.
It was even more so to be a homosexual in the 60's. It was a crime in many places, you were seen as an outcast, you were put to shame, dehumanized. This was the case of Elton John. I haven't read a book about this or done too much research, but I got a lot of insights from that movie. Elton grew up in a non-supportive home where he didn't get hardly any love or affection from his parents. But at an early age he showed major musical talent and potential, he studied hard and soon had a couple contracts.
Now this is the important part; because he didn't have a lot of love at home, he was kind of awkward, humble and insecure, AND flipping gay to add that cherry on top, he was not the ideal confident happy boy everyone expected of him. He was really good at creating music and putting on a show, but deep down he just wanted someone to love him. He had his lyricist best friend Bernie, but his parents never loved him and it was hard to form a strong gay relationship back then.
It broke my heart during the scenes where he goes back and visits his Dad. His Dad remarried and started a new family where he was so much nicer and actually showed affection to his second set of kids. I could just feel how heartbroken he was, thinking that his dad was incapable of love, but only incapable of feeling love towards him because of whatever reason.
Then he called his Mom and opened up to her revealing his homosexuality. And this was her humble response; "no-one will ever learn to love you properly" .
I just can't wrap my head around how dehumanized he probably felt. Secret homosexual superstar that people loved from a distance. He used that boiling passion and need for love through his stage presence and flamboyance. He turned to drugs and eventually had to check himself into rehab in 1990 where he was able to find himself and save his life. He eventually found love and happiness but it took a very long time.
My point is, he felt like an outcast, he didn't think he was worthy to be loved. He was ashamed of who he had become even though he was insanely successful, he was lonely and unhappy. This is huge of me to say, but I think that we can all relate to this sort of feeling in our lives. Unlovable monsters that shouldn't even be allowed to live, but he learned to love himself. He learned to look back on his past, the previous version of his hurting self and use that to heal himself. He gained confidence and the peace he had been looking for for years. And man am I glad to hear that he's still alive. I love that man he's such an inspiration. I was never a huge fan of his music because I just hadn't heard it, but I'll admit like a classic fan-girl I'm listening to "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" on repeat the day after I see the movie about the superstar we all look up to.
So I dedicate this draft to Elton John; my inspiration.
A couple of my sources:
https://youtu.be/w5KSjjGFiW8
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